Weight
The original unit was the Gramme, defined as the weight of a cubic centimetre of water at 4° Centigrade = 15·432 grains. It is divided into 10 decigrammes, 100 centigrammes, 1000 milligrammes. Of its multiples the decagramme is useless; the hectogramme is merely the name inscribed on a 100-gramme weight; the kilogramme of 1000 grammes is used when its use cannot be avoided.
But the present legal unit is not the gramme but the kilogramme = 2·2046 lb. or 15,432 grains.[[51]]
Intended to be the weight of a cubic decimetre of water at 4° C. (as the gramme was that of a cubic centimetre), this definition has been abandoned as inexact; it is now, like our pound, the mass of a certain platinum standard, in a vacuum.[[52]]
Practically, the unit of weight in the ordinary transactions of life is the ‘half-kilo’ of 500 grammes, more usually known as a livre or pound, though the use of this word in trade is punishable.
The livre or half-kilo = 1·1 lb. or 7716 grains.
1 kilo = 2·2046 lb. or 15,432 grains.
100 kilos or Quintal metrique = 220·46 lb.
1000 kilos or Tonne 2204·6 lb. = 0·984 ton.
1 ton = 1016 kilos; 1 cwt. = 50·8 kilos; 1 lb. = 0·4536 kilo or 453·6 grammes.